The present invention relates to a new and distinctive wild rice cultivar, designated KC-755. All publications cited in this application are herein incorporated by reference.
Wild rice (Zizania palustris L. Dore) is an important cultivated specialty crop grown predominantly in California and Minnesota, and is the only species in Zizania cultivated as a grain. Domestication efforts have been ongoing in the U.S. for about 50 years (Oelke, 2011). Although a small amount is cultivated in Hungary, wild rice is predominantly a United States crop. Total world production of wild rice in 2012 was about 20 million processed pounds, mostly coming from 29,000 acres of U.S. production. Modest quantities of non-cultivated lake wild rice are also harvested in Minnesota, Canada, Oregon, and Idaho. Export demand is growing and wild rice is now being exported to many countries including, but not limited to France, Germany, England, Russia, Lithuania, Spain, and China.
Wild rice is traditionally used as an ingredient to add variety and contrast in flavor, texture, and color to grain based dishes (wild rice, pasta, etc). The wild rice grain is nutritious and is normally consumed as a whole grain. It is considered a desirable part of a healthy diet as specified by the USDA Plate (www.choosemyplate.govfood-groups/grains.html). Wild rice is high in protein, dietary fiber, and iron (Timm and Slavin, 2013), and is gluten-free, low in fat, low in calories, and contains no cholesterol. Wild rice also contains antioxidant activity that has been found to be 30 times greater than white wild rice (Wu, et al. 1994; Yang, et al., 1994), and has a low glycemic index.
Consumption of processed wild rice currently stands at approximately 20 million lb/year worldwide. Consumption in the U.S. has stagnated while consumption world-wide is on the rise. Because it is a specialty crop, the price of wild rice remains higher than typical other whole grains, such as brown wild rice, whole grain barley, buckwheat, or quinoa. Although highly nutritious, being a specialty crop can also negatively affect the consumption of wild rice during difficult economic times. As it is not a food “staple,” wild rice is easily foregone during economic downturns, as has been the case during the 2008-12 recession. Domesticating wild rice is ultimately important as it has the potential of becoming another whole grain “staple” with which to feed the growing world population. In order to do this, wild rice needs to become economically competitive with the growing of other whole grain crops, particularly rice.
One of the important steps required in the domestication of wild rice is the development of a superior variety. A superior wild rice variety needs to have improved yield capabilities for the grower, different kernel size characteristics for marketing, and the ability to maintain its genetic identity over time. Traditionally, wild rice varieties have produced poor yields due to a number of reasons: the plants were too tall (7-10 ft), they produced low levels of grain relative to plant matter, and they lodged under even moderate fertility and/or in bad weather. Varieties, such as ‘Franklin’ and ‘Johnson,’ originally from MN and adopted by California growers, were early examples of important, but poor yielding varieties. For example, in multi-location trials over a seven year period, four varieties averaged 1,660 kg/ha, green, in Minnesota (Porter, 2007).
Current wild rice varieties continue to have serious drawbacks in commercial production. Yield potential, even with hybrids, is limited by excessive height. This excessive height leads to low harvest index (excess allocation of dry matter to vegetative mass instead of grain), and to lodging susceptibility.
Therefore, it is desirable to develop a novel wild rice cultivar having superior traits, such as increased grain yield and increased kernel weight and kernel length, in order to improve consumer value and provide growers with a competitive wild rice crop.
The foregoing examples of the related art and limitations related therewith are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive. Other limitations of the related art will become apparent to those of skill in the art upon a reading of the specification.